Media in the Home The Fifth Annual Survey of Parents and Children

Transcription

1 THE ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER OF THE UNIVERISTY OF PENNSYLVANIA Media in the Home The Fifth Annual Survey of Parents and Children 2000 By With Emory H. Woodard, IV, Ph.D. The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania Natalia Gridina The Annenberg Public Policy Center, Washington Executive Summary 3 Introduction and Methodology 5 1. Media in the Home 7 2. Time Spent with Media Perceptions of the Media Use of Policies, Technology, and Interaction to Guide Media Use 32 Copyright 2000 The Annenberg Public Policy Center Survey Series No. 7

2 Media in the Home 2000 Emory H. Woodard, IV is a Research Fellow for the Annenberg Public Policy Center. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Natalia Gridina is a Research Specialist with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Washington. She holds a masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Kathleen Hall Jamieson directed this research. Jamieson is Professor of Communication and Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, and Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Amy Jordan and Kelly Schmitt, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, contributed to survey conceptualization. Jo Holz, Annie Weber, and Jennifer Mazurick, Roper Starch Worldwide, directed data collection and preparation. Lorie Slass, Annenberg Public Policy Center, Washington, commented on early drafts of this report. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, edited this report. ABOUT THE ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels. Consistent with the mission of the Annenberg School for Communication, the Center has four ongoing foci: Information and Society, Media and the Developing Mind, Media and the Dialogue of Democracy, and Health Communication. The Center supports research and sponsors lectures and conferences in these areas. This series of publications disseminates the work of the Center. 2 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

3 Woodard, 2000 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Media in the Home 2000 provides a profile of media ownership, use, and attitudes for parents and children in America. In addition, it tracks parental awareness, knowledge, and use of various public policies designed to regulate those media. This year s survey augments earlier APPC surveys by examining the ways in which parents supervise their children s use of the proliferating media that are increasingly a part of the American home, including a central media environment of the child: the bedroom. Conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide on behalf of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, this national survey of 1,235 parents of children between the ages of two and seventeen (margin of error ± 2.9 percent) and 416 children between the ages of eight and sixteen (margin of error ± 5 percent) reveals: Almost half (48%) of all families with children between the ages of 2 and 17 have all four of the new media staples among families with children: a television, a VCR, video game equipment, and a computer. (See page 7 for details) These media have not only penetrated the homes of American families generally, but are also prevalent in the bedrooms of American children. We surveyed children between the ages 8-16 and found: 57 percent of the sample has a television set in the bedroom; 39 percent has video game equipment; 36 percent has basic cable service; 32 percent has a telephone; 30 percent has a VCR; 20 percent has a computer; and 11 percent has access to the Internet. Children from low-income homes are more likely to have television sets in their bedrooms than children from higher income homes. (See page 17 for details) The wealth in media ownership is not equally shared, however, as lowincome families still lag far behind other families in their computer ownership and Internet access. Though low-income (earning $30,000 or less per year) families are equally as likely to own video game equipment as higher income families, they are less likely to own computers and have Internet access. Only four in ten low-income families have a computer in their homes compared to eight in ten middle-income (earning between $30,000 and $75,000 per year) families and nine in ten high-income (earning more than $75,000 per year) families. Only two in ten low-income families have online access in the home compared to six in ten middle-income families and eight in ten high-income families. (See pages for details) According to parents, children spend almost 6½ hours using media each day. Children from low-income households spend 54 minutes more watching television, 30 minutes more watching videotapes, and 27 minutes more playing video games than children from high-income households. (See pages for details) Parents continue to express a great deal of concern about the media in general, but remain most concerned about the influence of television in particular. Parental concerns about the media, however, are not statistically related to the time their children spend with television. (See pages for details) appcpenn.org 3

4 Media in the Home 2000 Parents knowledge of polices designed to help supervise their children s use of television remains low. Awareness of the TV Parental Guidelines rating system among parents has steadily declined from 1997, when 70 percent of parents said that they were aware of the system, to this year, when only 50 percent of parents reported being aware of the system. (See page 32 for details) In addition, parents are confused about which programs are labeled as educational for children. For instance, many more parents (71%) thought Oprah received a label designating it educational for children (incorrect response) than knew that Recess received the label (correct response - ). (See pages for details) Despite weak knowledge of the policies, a significant number of parents report having and using television-blocking technologies to keep undesirable content away from their children. Forty-percent of parents report having a television with parental control features such as a V- Chip or a channel-blocking device. Of those with blocking technology, 53 percent say that they currently have the control feature engaged. (See pages for details) Parents are more likely to supervise their children s use of television than they are to supervise use of the Internet and video games. While most parents (88%) report regularly supervising their children s use of television, only about half report regularly supervising their children s use of the Internet or video games (50% and 48%, respectively). (See page 41 for details) Finally, it is clear that the media environment of families with children is undergoing change. For the first year since 1996, more families have an Internet subscription (52%) than a newspaper subscription (42%). In addition, though fewer preschoolers (24%) have bedroom television sets than previous years, the majority of adolescents (60%) have them. (See page 8 and page 16 for details) 4 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

5 Woodard, 2000 INTRODUCTION Since 1996, the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (APPC) has examined the role that the media and media policy play in family life. 1 Media in the Home 2000 marks the fifth annual survey of parents and children sponsored by APPC. As in previous years, this survey provides a profile of media ownership, use, and attitudes for parents and children while also tracking parental awareness, knowledge, and use of various public policies designed to regulate those media. This year s survey augments earlier work by taking a look at the ways in which parents supervise their children s use of the proliferating media that are increasingly a part of the American home, including a central media environment of the child: the bedroom. METHODOLOGY The latest Media in the Home survey is based on telephone interviews conducted from Saturday, April 8, 2000 through Tuesday, May 2, 2000 with 1,235 parents of children between the ages of two and seventeen and 416 children between the ages of eight and sixteen from around the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Roper Starch Worldwide implemented the survey. This year s sample of children is younger than that of previous years to allow a broader examination of the media use and behavior of elementary school age children, a group often excluded from survey research of this sort. The samples were drawn through random-digit dialing. 2 Where appropriate, parents were asked questions related to their two to seventeen year-old children. In households with multiple children, parents were asked to focus on the one child between the ages of two and seventeen with the most recent birthday at the time of the interview. Where possible, the children of parents surveyed between the ages of eight and sixteen were also surveyed. Of the 1,235 parents, 712 (50%) had children between the ages of eight and sixteen. In 234 of these households (33%), an eight to sixteen year-olds was also interviewed. To 1 At the direction of the Center, parents and children from across the country have been interviewed annually as a part of its Media and the Developing Mind program. The survey, initially titled Television in the Home was re-titled Media in the Home last year to reflect the growing significance of multiple media in the home. 2 The sample of telephone exchanges called was selected electronically from a complete list of exchanges in the country. The exchanges were chosen to assure that each region of the country was appcpenn.org 5

6 Media in the Home 2000 complete the sample, 182 children in this age range were interviewed independent of their parents. The response rate for parents and children was 31 percent. Parent respondents were weighted to the March 1999 Census Bureau estimates on racial and ethnic groupings, educational attainment, and geographical region. Child respondents were weighted separately from adults on gender, age, and geographical region. In theory, in 95 cases out of 100, the results based on such samples of parents will differ by no more than 2.9 percentage points in either direction from what would have been obtained by seeking out all parents of children between the ages of two and seventeen in the country. For the same 95 percent confidence interval, the results based on such samples of children will differ by no more than five percentage points in either direction from what would have been obtained by seeking out all children between the ages of eight and sixteen in the U.S. The potential margin of error for smaller subgroups is larger. For example, it is plus or minus 5.8 percentage points for the sub-sample of parents and their eight to sixteen year-olds. represented. The random selection of the remaining telephone digits permitted access to both listed and unlisted numbers. 6 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

7 Woodard, MEDIA IN THE HOME The media remain a prominent feature in American family life. For the third consecutive year, ownership of media has increased both within and across families. Specifically, more families than in past years own all four of the new American media staples: a television set, a VCR, video game equipment, and a personal computer. 3 Up slightly from last year, 48 percent of all families have all four media in their homes. Figure 1.1: Proportion of Families with All Four Media Hardware: TV, VCR, Video Games, and PC 50% 34% 46% 48% 30% 20% 10% 0% Media ownership varies significantly on the basis of family financial resources as defined by annual household income. Those with more income have significantly higher rates of ownership and those with less income have lower rates. This year, only 28 percent of families who earn less than $30,000 annually own all four media technologies whereas 62 percent of those who make $75,000 or more this year own all four. The rates of increase in media ownership over the last four years are also significantly different depending upon household income. The increase in ownership is sharpest in Middle America where for those earning between $30,000 and $75,000 annually, media ownership has increased 18 percent over the last four years. Media ownership among those less well off and the more affluent has increased much more modestly ranging from eight percent to six percent, respectively. 3 A few decades ago American media staples were a newspaper, radio, telephone, and television set. appcpenn.org 7

8 Media in the Home 2000 Ownership of Individual Media Figure 1.2: Ownership of Individual Media (percent of homes with children 2-17) VCR 97% Basic cable Computer Video games 70% 68% 78% Online access 52% Daily newspaper 42% Premium cable 31% Television Television remains the most ubiquitous medium in the United States. Nielsen Media Research reports that of all U.S. households, this year 98 percent has at least one television. 4 Television has an even stronger presence in homes with children. The average U.S. household has 2.4 television sets while the average household with children age two to seventeen has 2.8 sets. Set ownership by families with children has remained stable over the last four years, varying only by income level. In 1997, families with household incomes of less than $30,000 annually own an average 2.1 sets, families making between $30,000 and $75,000 own an average 2.5 sets, and families that make over $75,000 own an average 3.0 sets. This year, the lowest income families average 2.3 sets, the middle income families own on average 2.8 sets, and the highest income families own 3.2 sets on average. Families with children on average have more televisions than families without children, largely because a significant proportion of children have television sets in their bedrooms. This year, almost half (47%) of parents report that they have a child with a television set in his or her bedroom. We will discuss this more fully when we take a look at children s bedroom media. 4 Television Bureau of Advertising (2000). Trends in television: Television households. Available: (Accessed 5/27/2000). 8 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

9 Woodard, 2000 VCRs and Cable Just as the television is practically a universal commodity in the general population, this year s survey finds that the VCR is also nearly universal in households with children (97% of these homes have the technology). Families with two to seventeen year-old children are also more likely to subscribe to basic cable services than is the general television household population. In the general population, 68 percent of television households subscribe to basic cable services, while 78 percent of families with children in the target age group have the service. Both families in the sample and television households in the general population subscribe to premium cable services at a rate of about 31 percent. 5 Video Games Figure 1.3: Proportion of Families with Children 2-17 Who Own Video Game Equipment % 80% 60% 62% 62% 67% 68% 20% 0% As depicted in Figure 1.3, ownership of video game equipment has been relatively stable over the last four years overall, growing only one percent (to 68%) in Analyses of video game ownership among families with different economic means show no significant differences. What does seem to make a difference in video game ownership is the age of the child. Video games are more prevalent among children who are of elementary school age and older, as is evident from the last four years of our survey work. In this year s survey, we also observe that homes with at least one boy are significantly more likely to have video game equipment than homes with at least 5 Television Bureau of Advertising. (2000). Trends in television: Cable, pay cable & VCR households. Available: (Accessed 5/27/2000). appcpenn.org 9

10 Media in the Home 2000 one girl (76 percent versus 58 percent, respectively). Finally, either video games are best enjoyed with siblings or two children can put more pressure to buy the equipment than one child, as they are significantly more likely to be present in homes with more than one child. In the year 2000 survey, video games are found in 75 percent of homes with more than one child but are in only 58 percent of homes with only one child. Figure 1.4: Proportion of Families with Children 2-17 Who Own Video Game Equipment By Child Age Group Preschool 2-5 School-Age 6-11 Teen % 60% 20% 0% 44% 74% 74% 66% 71% 74% 76% 76% 65% 43% 39% 42% Computers and Online Access Computers and online access have continued their meteoric ascent since On average, more families have a computer than video game equipment, and for the first time, online access has surpassed newspaper subscriptions. Seven in ten homes with children now have a personal computer and over half have online access (52 percent). This year, among families with computers, over threequarters have online access, an almost 50 percent increase since 1996 when we first asked families about their online capabilities. 10 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

11 Woodard, 2000 Figure 1.5: Overall Computer Ownership and Online Access (percentage of homes with children 2-17) Computer Internet 100% 80% 60% 20% 0% 70% 68% 52% 55% 62% 48% 41% 32% 15% 22% Figure 1.6: Proportion of Computers with Online Access 100% 80% 60% 31% 52% 60% 76% 20% 0% Households with at least one child aged six or older are significantly more likely to have a personal computer than households with younger children. This year there are no significant differences in online access by age. There are also no significant differences in either computer ownership or online access by the gender of the target child or the number of children in the household. Despite the five-year highs in both computer ownership and online access, there is still a significant digital divide created by economic differences. On one side of the divide are the more affluent families that almost universally own digital technologies and services. On the other side of the divide are the less affluent families with much lower rates of technology ownership. Computer ownership leveled off in the highest income category, those households that earn more than $75,000 annually, at 93 percent. It is also stable in the lowest income category, those households that earn less than $30,000 annually, at 40 percent. The appcpenn.org 11

12 Media in the Home 2000 middle-income category posts a four-year high with 77 percent of households who earn between $30,000 and $75,000 owning personal computers, an increase of six percent from the previous year. Figure 1.7: Overall Computer Ownership by Income (percentage of homes with children 2-17) < $30K $30K - $75K $75K+ 100% 80% 60% 20% 0% 89% 94% 93% 88% 77% 57% 67% 71% 29% 33% 41% There are significant increases in home Internet access across income categories. Though households in the lowest income category still lag behind the others (only 24 have online access), this income group nevertheless experienced the second largest growth (9 percent) in Internet access between 1999 and The middle-income category (with 58 percent of its households having online access) experienced the largest growth this year garnering a 15 percent increase over last year. The Internet is not only widespread among those households with the highest incomes; it is beginning to be widely dispersed among the middle-income household strata as well. There is still a more than 50 percent difference in access for those in the highest and lowest income categories, however. 12 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

13 Woodard, 2000 Figure 1.8: Overall Online Access by Income (percentage of homes with children 2-17) < $30K $30K - $75K $75K+ 100% 80% 60% 20% 0% 72% 61% 79% 47% 43% 32% 58% 21% 13% 15% 24% 7% Income is a significant predictor of virtually all media ownership except for video games. This is best illustrated in Figure 1.9. Focusing on the bar of one medium at a time in the figure and tracing it across income categories, one sees a consistent increase in percentage ownership as income increases for all media except video games. Figure 1.9 also provides a sense of media uses that coincide with media availability for families of different economic means. In the lowest income category, media ownership appears to primarily provide leisure time activity through video games (generally an entertainment vehicle) followed by the provision of computers (generally considered an educational resource). The Internet is least present in households in this income category, even less so than newspaper subscriptions. In middle-income households, computers are more widely available than video games. The Internet is also more likely to be found than the newspaper in the middle-income household. In the highest income families, both electronic information resources are most widely available, computers and Internet access. The implication of this finding is that children from higher income households have more informational tools and resources available in the home. The media that is equally likely to be found in lower, middle, and upper class homes is the video game. Computer ownership, Internet access, and newspaper subscriptions all increase as income increases. appcpenn.org 13

14 Media in the Home 2000 Figure 1.9: Media Ownership by Income in 2000 (percentage of homes with children 2-17) Computer Video Game Internet Newspaper Subscription 100% 80% 60% 20% 64% 24% 25% 77% 70% 58% 44% 93% 67% 79% 61% 0% < $30K $30K-$75K $75K+ While overall media ownership is up in the year 2000, a more telling story is in the ownership of individual media among families. Television remains the most widespread medium, followed by VCRs. The acquisition of online services, however, continues to rise at a rapid rate. There remains a significant digital divide by economic resources in access to computers and online access. Nine out of ten high-income households have a computer and eight of ten have online access compared to only four out of ten with computers and two out of ten with online access among low-income households. Though low-income households are less likely to have information technologies, they are equally as likely to have video game equipment as households with greater income, a trend in ownership that may disadvantage children from low-income homes in the classroom. The Media in Children s Bedrooms The bedroom of the 21 st century child is a multimedia environment. As noted earlier, in our survey of parents, 47 percent reported that at least one of their children had a television in his or her bedroom. We now turn to a more in-depth look at these bedroom television sets. Interestingly, while more affluent families are likely to have more television sets in their homes overall, less well off families are more likely to have children with television sets in their bedrooms, a trend that has persisted over the last four years of the survey. 14 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

15 Woodard, 2000 Figure 1.10: Proportion of Children 2-17 with TV Sets in Bedroom by Annual Household Income < $30K $30K-$75K $75K+ 60% 48% 51% 47% 48% 44% 41% 42% 35% 33% 50% 48% 37% 20% 0% In the year 2000 survey, 50 percent of parents who work full time outside of the home have children with bedroom television sets compared to only 41 percent of parents who do not work full time outside of the home. This difference cannot be entirely explained by the greater financial resources since family income is negatively related to child bedroom television sets (see Figure 1.10). The distribution of child bedroom sets among single parents is also telling. Among single parent households with no other adult caretakers living in the household, 57 percent have children with bedroom television sets compared to 45 percent of households with multiple adult caretakers present. Thus, bedroom television sets may be a resource used by parents whose supervisory role is constrained by work commitments and/or the absence of parental assistance. Parents who watch more television themselves are more likely to have children with bedroom television sets. In families in which parents watch little television (one hour or less per day), 39 percent of children have bedroom television sets. In those households in which parents watch more than two hours of television per day, 56 percent of children have bedroom televisions. Differences among children also predict which parents provide bedroom television sets. Parents of boys are slightly more likely to provide their sons with a bedroom television set than are parents of girls (50 percent to 44 percent, respectively). The difference, however, is only marginally significant. More significant differences are found in the distribution of television sets in the bedrooms of children of different ages. Preschool age children are the least appcpenn.org 15

16 Media in the Home 2000 likely to have bedroom sets, this year found in only 24 percent of their bedrooms. Adolescents are most likely to have bedroom sets; 60 percent of them had televisions in their rooms this year. The proportion of television sets in the bedrooms of elementary school age children has increased significantly over the last five years (11 percent), posting a five-year high in 2000 at 48 percent of children in this age group. There was also a significant drop in the proportion of television sets in the bedrooms of preschool children, down seven percentage points from its five year high in 1998 of 31 percent. The decline in the presence of sets in the bedrooms of preschool children coincides with the American Academy of Pediatrics 1999 pronouncement that children under the age of two should avoid television. Figure 1.11: Proportion of Children 2-17 with TV Sets in Bedroom by Age Group Preschool (2-5) School-Age (6-11) Teen (12-17) 80% 60% 20% 29% 37% 55% 26% 38% 56% 58% 60% 46% 31% 35% 29% 24% 48% 60% 0% To take a more complete inventory of bedroom media, we asked the children aged eight to sixteen we surveyed about the types of media they have in their bedrooms at home. Books and stereos are the most prevalent media in children s bedrooms, occupying the bedrooms of over three-quarters of the children we surveyed. Television is the third most prevalent medium in bedrooms, with 57 percent having a set in the bedroom. Of those with television sets, 27 percent of children say their sets have a V-Chip or other parental control feature that enabled the blocking out of certain channels or shows. 16 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

17 Woodard, 2000 Figure 1.12: Distribution of Media Children s (age 8-16) Bedrooms Books Stereo or CD Player Television Video games Basic cable Telephone VCR Computer Online access 11% 20% 39% 36% 32% 30% 57% 78% 77% Most children (59%) use their bedroom sets to watch television programming. Of the children with bedroom sets, almost a third (30%) do most of their television viewing in their bedrooms, presenting a potential challenge to parental supervision efforts. Another 38 percent of children with bedroom sets do at least some of their TV viewing in their bedrooms. Children also use bedroom sets for playing video games (29%) and watching videotapes (10%). Twenty percent of children have computers in their bedrooms. Among those with computers, over half (54%) have Internet access in their bedrooms. Most children with bedroom computers use them for doing school projects (42%) and playing games (41%). Fourteen percent of children use their computers to communicate (e.g., , chat rooms, and instant messaging). Finally, we asked children about the rules their parents put in place to govern media use in the home. We asked children about three rules across three media: television, the Internet, and video games. The rules and percentage of children with the rule are presented in Table 1.1. About 7 in 10 children cannot use any of the listed media until they are done with schoolwork or household chores and at least about half of children are restricted in the media content they can consume. The majority of children reported being able to watch television and play video games for as long as they wanted. Most of their parents did, however, place restrictions on the amount of time spent online. appcpenn.org 17

18 Media in the Home 2000 Table 1.1 Percentage of Children with Media Use Rules in the Home: The Child Perspective Rule Description Medium % Rule #1 Child can only use medium after Television 68% homework or chores are completed. Internet* 63% Video Games* 71% Rule #2 Child can only use the medium for a Television 39% certain amount of time. Internet* 59% Video Games* 42% Rule #3 Child can only engage certain media Television 50% content. (e.g., can only watch certain shows, browse certain sites, and Internet* 69% play certain games) Video Games* 49% * Among those with the medium in their homes. 18 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

19 Woodard, TIME SPENT WITH MEDIA For the fourth consecutive year, television is the medium with which children spend the most time. According to parents of children aged two to seventeen, children spend nearly two and a half hours (147 minutes) with television each day. Overall, parents report children spend an average of almost six and a half hours (382 minutes) in some form of mediated communication each day, be it watching television or video tapes, playing video games, using a computer, talking on the telephone, browsing the Internet, or reading a book, magazine or newspaper. It is important to note that children often engage these media simultaneously, for example, reading while watching television or using the computer while talking on the phone. In terms of time spent in front of screens, children reportedly spend over four and a half hours (281 minutes) watching television or videotapes, playing video games, using the computer, or browsing the Internet each day. This is up 21 minutes from the time reported spent in front of screens last year. Figure 2.1: Average Daily Minutes Spent with Media by All Children 2-17 (Parental report) All Media Screens TV VCR Books Computer Video Games Telephone Newspaper/Magazine Internet Use To help explain patterns in children s media use, a number of comparisons were made. Where applicable, comparisons were made only among those with the medium in their household. Only areas where there were significant differences are presented in the figures; others will be discussed in the text. The first set of comparisons examined the role of household characteristics in time spent with media. In terms of family income, children from households with higher annual incomes watch significantly less television, and spend less time watching videotapes and playing video games than families with lower incomes. appcpenn.org 19

20 Media in the Home 2000 There are no statistically significant differences across households of different economic means in time spent using the computer (among those owning computers), browsing the Internet (among those with online access), reading books or periodicals, or talking on the telephone. Figure 2.2: Average Daily Minutes Spent with Media by Income (Parental report) <$30K $30K-$75K $75K TV* VCR* Video Games* * Differences significant at the p<.05 level The influence of parental behavior and norms is evident in our analysis of media use. The children of heavy television viewing parents (more than 2 hours daily) themselves spend significantly more time watching television and videotapes, surfing the web, and playing video games than children of parents who watch less television. Figure 2.3: Average Daily Minutes Children Spent with Media by Parental TV Viewing Habits Low (0-1 hour) Moderate (1-2 hours) High (2+ hours) TV* VCR* Internet* Video Games* * Differences significant at the p<.05 level We also see evidence that the media serve as a babysitter of sorts in some circumstances. Household characteristics that correspond to statistically significant differences in time spent with media include full-time parental employment outside of the home and family composition. Children of parents 20 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

21 Woodard, 2000 who work full-time outside of the home spend an average 43 minutes more with all media than children parents who do not work full-time outside of the home (397 minutes vs. 354 minutes). Children of single parents spend 47 minutes more with all media each day than children where there is more than one adult caretaker available in the home (421 minutes vs. 374 minutes). Children who are heavier television viewers are heavier media users overall. Children who spend more than two hours watching television daily also spend significantly more time watching videotapes, playing video games, and talking on the telephone. There are no statistically significant differences in time spent using the computer, browsing the Internet, reading books or periodicals by the amount of time the child spent with television. Figure 2.4: Average Daily Minutes Children Spent with Media by Child TV Viewing Habits Low (0-1 hour) Moderate (1-2 hours) High (2+ hours) TV* VCR* Video Games* Telephone* * Differences significant at the p<.05 level The gender of the child corresponds with the use of several media. Boys spend more time watching television and playing video games while girls spend significantly more time reading books and talking on the telephone. There are no significant gender differences in Internet or computer use. appcpenn.org 21

22 Media in the Home 2000 Figure 2.5: Average Daily Minutes Children Spent with Media by Child Gender Girl Boy TV* Books* Video Games* Telephone* * Differences significant at the p<.05 level Media use also varied among children of different ages. There are statistically significant differences in media use across all of the media except television viewing. Preschoolers spend the most time watching videotapes, elementary school age children spend the most time reading books, and adolescents spend the most time using the Internet, playing video games, talking on the telephone, reading periodicals, and generally using the computer. Figure 2.6: Average Daily Minutes Children Spent with Media by Child Age Preschool (2-5) School-Age (6-11) Teen (12-17) VCR* Internet* Books* Video Games* Telephone* Periodicals* Computer* * Differences significant at the p<.05 level It is possible that children without siblings could spend more time with media because of the reduced interpersonal interactions they experience. This year s data reveal that this is not the case. Children in homes where they are the only child do not generally spend more time with the media except for those that can be used to communicate with others, namely the telephone and the Internet. As families own more media, one could predict that other media could displace the amount of time children spend with television. Overall, however, time spent 22 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

23 Woodard, 2000 with television has not significantly diminished over time. In fact, time spent with television has been stable over the last four years leading Stanger and Gridina (1999) to conclude in our 1999 report that there has not been any reported significant decrease in television viewership by children over the years of our survey, even with the introduction of new media into a high percentage of homes. 6 Figure 2.7: Average Daily Hours Spent with Television This year we took a closer look at the impact of time spent with new media as well as with some older media on time spent with television. Controlling for household income, parental television viewing habits, and the age and gender of the child, we compared the adjusted average time spent with television for children who spent time with and did not spend time with the following media: VCRs, video games, computers, and the Internet. We found significant correlations between video game use, computer use, and time spent with television. Children who use video games spend on average 21 more minutes watching television per day 7 and children who use the computer for uses other than going online spend an average 14 minutes less watching television per day. VCR use (viewing video tapes) and Internet use did not significantly relate to time spent television viewing after controlling for the covariates listed earlier. To investigate the relationship between media ownership and time spent with the media, comparisons were made between owners of varying amounts of media. One would expect that the more media owned the more time spent with media. 6 Stanger, J. D. & Gridina, N. (1999) Television in the Home: 1999 National Survey of Parents and Children. Annenberg Public Policy Center Survey Series No. 5, University of Pennsylvania. Page 9. appcpenn.org 23

24 Media in the Home 2000 That is not the case, as owners of all four media, television sets, VCRs, video games, and computers, spend significantly less time with the media overall than did owners of television sets, VCRs, and video games. This is possibly due to the lower rate of computer ownership and higher rate of video game ownership by the heavy media using, low-income households that are more likely to populate the TV, VCR, & Video Game category and not the TV, VCR, Computer & Video Game category. Figure 2.8: Average Daily Minutes Spent in front of Screens and with All Media by Media Ownership Screens All Media TV & VCR Only TV, VCR & Computer 324 TV, VCR & Video game TV, VCR, Computer & Video game This year, in addition to assessing time spent with media, we wanted to get a sense of the educational fare parents are encouraging their children to watch on television, whether children are actually watching the fare, and whether or not children are learning anything from it. Do parents and children see the medium primarily as an entertainment medium or do they see opportunities for learning? To begin to answer this question, we identified a number of television programs and program environments (channels) parents report their children learning from. 8 We then asked parents and children in our national survey about their exposure to and learning from the shows and channels. We added a primarily entertaining channel (Cartoon Network) and a primarily entertaining program (The Simpsons) to each list to see how entertainment fare compared with educational fare. 7 Even though parents were asked to delineate between video game use and watching programs on television, some parents may have included time spent playing video games using the television set in their minutes spent watching television. 8 Schmitt, K. L. (2000) Public policies, family rules, and children s media use in the home (Report No. 35). Philadelphia, PA: The Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania. 24 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

25 Woodard, 2000 Table 2.1 Viewing of Educational Channels Channel % Encouraging a % Regularly Watching b % Learning bc Discovery Channel 88% 53% 96% PBS 60% 37% 80% Nickelodeon 56% 60% 55% News channels 43% 34% 96% Cartoon Network 33% 49% 29% a Parents of children aged 8-16 reporting b Children age 8-16 reporting c Children were asked Is this a show where you usually learn something when you watch it? Among parents of eight to sixteen year-olds (matching the age range of children also surveyed), the most encouraged program environment among the ones posed to parents is the Discovery Channel, followed by PBS and Nickelodeon. The least encouraged channel is the primarily entertaining one, the Cartoon Network. Most children, aged eight to sixteen, report watching Nickelodeon followed by the Discovery Channel. Most children report learning something from the Discovery Channel and news channels. Parents in households with incomes less than $30,000 per year are significantly more likely to encourage their children to watch the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and news channels. Parents in households making between $30,000 and $75,000 are significantly more likely to encourage the Discovery Channel. Table 2.2 Viewing of Educational Shows Parents Report (8-16 year-olds) Children s Report (8-16 year-olds) Program % View % Learn a Program % View % Learn a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 46% 87% Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 60% 80% Saved by the Bell* 36% 63% The Simpsons 49% 12% 7 th Heaven 31% 95% Recess* 35% 33% Arthur 28% 92% 7 th Heaven 34% 59% The Simpsons 28% 20% Arthur 31% 64% Recess* 12% 63% Saved by the Bell* 29% 32% Oprah Winfrey 9% 87% Histeria* 14% 55% Histeria* 5% 73% Oprah Winfrey 14% 51% a Among those reporting regular viewing. appcpenn.org 25

26 Media in the Home 2000 Starred programs are titles that are identified by commercial broadcasters as educational and informational (E/I) for children. The stations air E/I programs to satisfy the mandate of the Three-Hour Rule, a processing guideline designed to increase the number of educational programs available over the free airwaves. According to parental reports of child viewing behavior, most children between the ages of eight and sixteen regularly watch Who Wants to be a Millionaire, followed by the E/I program Saved by the Bell. Most children aged eight to sixteen, report regularly watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We also asked both parents of children and children who regularly watch each program if they usually learn something they consider useful. Most parents thought that their children learned from 7 th Heaven, a general audience program that contains prosocial themes. Most children thought that they learned something from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a highly rated, trivia game show for a general audience. 26 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

27 Woodard, PERCEPTIONS OF THE MEDIA In our survey, parents were asked to rate their concern about several media on a four-point scale that varied from a one-- signifying that the parent was not at all concerned about the medium-- to a four-- signifying that the parent was very concerned about the medium. Figure 3.1 presents the percentages of parents that report being somewhat or very concerned about individual media. Figure 3.1: Percentage of Parents of Children Aged 2-17 Expressing At Least Some Concern about Medium 100% 84% 80% 60% 75% 72% 71% 61% 53% 52% 36% 20% 0% TV Music Internet Movies Magazines Video Computer Games Games Phone Television is the medium that still elicits the concern of most parents, followed by music, the Internet, and movies. Video and computer games garner just about the least concern among parents. Overall, parents seem to be anxious about the media generally, given that for all media, except for the telephone, the majority of parents expresses at least some concern. Figure 3.2: Percentage of Parents Expressing At Least Some Concern about Medium By Child Age Group Preschool (2-5) School-Age (6-11) Teen (12-17) 100% 75% 50% 25% 87% 89% 78% 78% 79% 78% 76% 74% 72% 62% 60% 62% 59% 58% 48% 50% 50% 45% 33% 23% 46% 0% TV Music Internet Movies Video Games Computer Games Phone appcpenn.org 27

28 Media in the Home 2000 Parental concern about the media varies significantly with the age of the child on which parents focused when responding. Significantly fewer parents of adolescents are concerned about television than parents of preschool and elementary school age children. Significantly fewer parents of preschoolers are concerned about music, the Internet, and movies, than parents of elementary school age children and parents of adolescents. Significantly more parents of elementary school age children are concerned about video and computer games than parents of differently aged children. Finally, concern about child telephone use is related to age. As the child s age increases, the number of parents concerned about telephone use also increases significantly. Figure 3.3: Percentage of Parents Expressing that the Medium Concerns Them Most 50% 46% 30% 32% 20% 10% 14% 8% 0% TV Internet Music Video Games To determine which medium worried parents most, they were asked to choose which of the following four media concerned them most: television, music, the Internet, and video games. The majority of parents cite television (45 percent), followed by the Internet (31 percent), and then music (14 percent). Of least concern to parents are video games, with only eight percent stating that they are most concerned about their influence. This concern varies slightly by age of child. Most parents of adolescents express greatest concern about the Internet () followed by television (30%). So just what about television concerns parents so much? Is it the content to which children are exposed or is it the amount of time children spend with the medium? Our survey work over the last five years overwhelmingly indicates that it is content that concerns parents most. 28 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

29 Woodard, 2000 Figure 3.4: What Concerns Parents More About Television Content or Time Spent with Medium?* Content Time 80% 60% 70% 71% 67% 70% 64% 20% 17% 17% 22% 19% 21% 0% * Percentages do not equal 100 because some parents volunteered neither and both equally responses. Concern about content over time spent with the medium is not limited to television, but seems to be consistent across media. Video games garner the most concern about time spent with the medium, but even in this case do not surpass concerns about the content of the games played. Figure 3.5: What Concerns Parents More About Other Media Content or Time Spent with Medium?* Content Time 80% 60% 60% 80% 37% 29% 20% 0% Video Games Internet Music 5% 4% * Percentages do not equal 100 because some parents volunteered neither and both equally responses. The emphasis on content of media explains why concern does not lead to reduced time spent with the media. Concerns about the media were aggregated and used to create an index of media concern. On the basis of index scores, parents were grouped into one of three categories, low concern, moderate concern, and high concern. The time the children of these parents spent with appcpenn.org 29

30 Media in the Home 2000 media were then compared to see whether parental concern led to reduced time spent with the media. The results of this analysis are presented in Figure 3.6. As Figure 3.6 indicates, the only significant differences in time spent with media were in the reading of books and the reading of newspaper and magazines. 9 What this indicates is that parents with concerns about the media may not curb the amount of time spent with the media they are concerned about but rather encourage media activities with which they are more comfortable, in this case the reading of books and periodicals. Figure 3.6: Time Spent with Media by General Concern over Media Low Concern Moderate Concern High Concern TV VCR Internet Books* Video Games Phone Periodicals* Computer * Difference statistically significant at p<.05. To further ascertain concerns parents had about television in particular, they were asked to agree or disagree with a host of views about television on fivepoint Likert-type scales where one was Strongly Disagree and five was Strongly Agree. An index of negative views about television was created with the items listed in Figure 3.7. The percentage of parents that indicated that they either Somewhat Agreed or Strongly Agreed with the statement is listed next to the statement. 9 While time spent with television does move in the appropriate direction, the relationship failed to reach statistical significance. 30 The Annenberg Public Policy Center

31 Woodard, 2000 Figure 3.7: Percentage of Parents that at least Somewhat Agree with the Statement: Thinking about children in general, watching television Decreases time spent reading Increases materialism Adds to loss of child innocence Increases interest in sex Increases gender stereotypy Increases racial stereotypy 86% 83% 77% 72% 71% 64% Despite overwhelmingly reporting that they are most concerned about the content of the media, most parents indicate concern about the impact of television on time spent reading. Scores on the negative views index are positively correlated with media concerns (r =.303, p<.01) and negatively correlated with parental television viewing (r=.127, p<.01). That is, negative views about television are related to increasing concerns about television; the more television a parent watches the less negative that parent s view of television. appcpenn.org 31

32 Media in the Home USE OF POLICIES, TECHNOLOGY AND INTERACTION TO GUIDE MEDIA USE Two recent policies provide parents with information they can use to guide child television use. The first is a rating system known as the TV Parental Guidelines. A product of V-Chip legislation, these ratings inform parents about the age group television content is intended for as well as the presence of four problematic content themes: violence, sexual content, crude or indecent language, and adult dialogue. A second guideline is the product of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) processing guideline known as the Three-Hour Rule. This guideline calls for commercial broadcasters (not cable-casters) to air three hours a week of programming that meets the cognitive/intellectual or social/emotional needs of children. The guideline also calls for broadcasters to label their educational offerings on the air and provide details about these shows to program listing services (e.g., TV Guide) so that parents can identify them. In terms of the TV Parental Guidelines rating system, this year finds that 50 percent of parents are aware that programs are rated for their suitability for different audiences. This represents a 14 percent decline in awareness of the system from last year and a 20 percent decline from awareness levels in 1997 when the rating system was first put into effect. Figure 4.1: Percentage of Parents Aware of the TV Parental Guidelines Rating System % 70% 66% 64% 60% 50% 20% 0% Of the parents aware of the ratings system, 54 percent accurately stated that the ratings system provides both age and content-based information about television programs. Forty-five percent of parents are aware that programs are rated on whether or not they are educational for children. 32 The Annenberg Public Policy Center